EVALUATION
Yes, the bit used to mark a method or constructor as var-args overlaps with the bit position used to make a field transient. (A similar overlap occurs with bridge methods and volatile.) This is documented in the updated JVM specification:
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/vmspec/2nd-edition/ClassFileFormat-Java5.pdf
The Method and Constructor toString methods have been updated to not print out these misleading overlaps. {Method, Constructor}.isVarArgs() can be used to check for var-arg-ness.
Closing as will not fix.